Gwynns Falls Trail
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New Bike Trail Signage

Follow the Blazes! Wayfinding on Baltimore's Gwynns Falls Trail is made easier for bikers by a system of directional markers at key points on the route. Urban trails have multiple intersections and trail crossings, and there never can be enough signs erected. Plus, bikers are frequently looking down to check the trail ahead of them, so makers on the pavement are often more effective. Find similar directional blazes on Baltimore's Jones Fall Trail, as well.

Trail Kiosk Signage

View the kiosk signs on the Trail or see them at the links below.

  1. Gwynns Falls Park at I-70/Franklintown
  2. Leakin Park at the Crimea Estate
  3. Leakin Park at Winans Meadow
  4. Gwynns Falls Park at Windsor Mill Road
  5. Leon Day Park at Franklintown Road
  6. Gwynns Falls Park at Wilkens Avenue
  7. Gwynns Falls Park at Frederick Avenue
  8. Carroll Park at the Golf course
  9. Solo Gibbs Park at Henrietta Street
  10. Middle Branch Park at Waterview Avenue
  11. Middle Branch Park at Hanover Street
  12. Carroll Park at the Historic Pigtown Neighborhood
  13. Maryland Stadium Complex at Ostend and Warner Streets

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The Gwynns Falls - Baltimore Greenway to the Chesapeake Bay , an informative book by W. Edward Orser with contributions by Daniel Bain, Jack Breihan, Guy W. Hager, Eric Holcomb and David Terry is available to enrich your experience on the Trail.

Walkers and bikers on Baltimore’s Gwynns Falls Trail experience much more than a recreation pathway through 2,000 acres of greenway stream and parkland. This book will help all to better understand 400 years of change in landscape and cultural heritage along the Gwynns Falls. Over the course of time, the stream valley was treated as a neglected backyard, and now is treasured as unique green space. The Trail threads through seemingly pristine areas of natural beauty as well as degraded former industrial sites–some in the process of revitalization, others in need of remediation. Along the route are 30 Baltimore neighborhoods, some of them among the most affluent, some the most economically stressed.

With 160 pages and 140 photographs, the chapters below make the case that appreciation of the Gwynns Falls and its watershed starts with a walk or bicycle ride along an urban greenway and opens an opportunity to tell the stories about this complex landscape. Some of the stories have left indelible marks, others little trace. Some point to accomplishment and promise, others to challenges and obstacles. But to encounter the Gwynns Falls, this gateway to the Chesapeake Bay, is to engage a rich historical record and to become part of an unfolding chronicle so important to the past and present of Baltimore, America’s cities, and the nation.

How to purchase a book

You can purchase a copy of this book for $20 and proceeds will help support the Gwynns Falls Trail Council. Place an order by calling 410-448-5663, pick up a copy at 800 Wyman Park Drive, Suite 010, Baltimore, MD 21211, or send a $25 check (includes $5 shipping) to the address above. We know you will enjoy this book.

Table of Contents

  1. Preface
  2. Chapter 1 - Tributary of the Bay: The Water and the Watershed, Past to Present
  3. Chapter 2 - Four Hundred Years Ago: Captain John Smith Explores Baltimore’s Waterways
  4. Chapter 3 - Native People of the Chesapeake: Algonquians and Susquehannocks
  5. Chapter 4 - Colonial Plantation Economy Along the Gwynns Falls: The Carrolls and special focus on Land Records and Early Landscapes in the Lower Gwynns Falls Watershed by Daniel J. Bain
  6. Chapter 5 - Port of Baltimore: “ Queen City of the Chesapeake”
  7. Chapter 6 - Harborside Neighborhoods: From Early Urban Settlement to Urban Homesteading
  8. Chapter 7 - African American Heritage in Sharp-Leadenhall by Eric Holcomb
  9. Chapter 8 - Baltimore’s First Economic Boom: Flour Milling
  10. Chapter 9 - A Grist Mill Village: Franklintown
  11. Chapter 10 - From Flour Mills to Textile Mills: Dickeyville
  12. Chapter 11 - Roads and Bridges: Traversing the Gwynns Falls
  13. Chapter 12 - Making Tracks to the Interior: Railroads
  14. Chapter 13 - Industries on the Urban Periphery
  15. Chapter 14 - The Industrial Southwest
  16. Chapter 15 - Rowhouses for the Expanding City
  17. Chapter 16 - Streetcars: Conveyances for the First Commuters
  18. Chapter 17 - The Park Era and the Olmsted Vision
  19. Chapter 18 - The Gwynns Falls as a Stream Valley Park
  20. Chapter 19 - African Americans and the Struggle for Equality and special focus on Reginald Lewis, Rosemont’s Native Son by David Terry
  21. Chapter 20 - The Middle Branch’s Southern Shore
  22. Chapter 21 - Leakin Park: A Name Before a Place, a special focus on Thomas Winans and the Crimea
  23. Chapter 22 - Cherry Hill: African American Community on the Southside
  24. Chapter 23 - Baltimore’s Expressway Controversy
  25. Chapter 24 - Baseball Legends of the Gwynns Falls: Babe Ruth, Leon Day, Al Kaline
  26. Chapter 25 - The Inner Harbor and Camden Yards
  27. Chapter 26 - Baltimore’s Parks for a New Century: The Gwynns Falls Trail

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Greenways and Networks

We are very pleased that the Trail has been designated as part of the East Coast Greenway and the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network . We look forward to seeing you on the Trail soon. Please come out end enjoy this wonderful environmental and recreation resource.

While Supplies Last!

You may now buy Trail memorabilia by mail. Review the selections below and send us your order details and check /money order.

Shipping costs: $2.50 per print/poster.

Send your order details and check/money order to:
Gwynns Falls Trail Memorabilia
c/o Parks & People Foundation
800 Wyman Park Drive, Suite 010
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Press Releases

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Recent Articles

City Hauls Away Massive Amounts Of Trash In Gwynns Run Stream Cleanup
CBS Baltimore - March 2013

Help Wildlife During National Trails Day
The Baltimore Sun - May 2009

Volunteers Clean Baltimore Parks
ABC News

Book records West Baltimore heritage, neighbors' devotion to Gwynns Falls
The Baltimore Sun - August 2, 2008

Baltimore's Stream of History
The Examiner - July 23, 2008

Hikers, bikers get a new path
The Baltimore Sun - June 8, 2008

Take a walk on the wild side of Baltimore on Gwynns Falls Trail
Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network - October 2007

Tour du Parks captures the best of Baltimore
The Examiner - June 12, 2006

Trail Art exhibit encourages preservation
The Examiner - June 3, 2006

Bicycle Baltimore - hike History
The Baltimore Sun - June 4, 2005

Blazing a Trail to Renewal
Trust for Public Land - May 2005

A trail grows in Baltimore
The Baltimore Sun - June 16, 2003

Art, nature converging on trail
The Baltimore Sun - October 8, 2001

Baltimore greenway is on the right path Recreation: One of the city's best-kept secrets, a surprisingly lush trail in Leakin Park, is slated for expansion to Federal Hill by 2003.
The Baltimore Sun - September 15, 2001

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